Geriatric home robbed, pensioners tied up

Bandits stormed a geriatric home in Freeport and tied up caregivers and patients before robbing the home and its owner on Monday night.

Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh, in whose constituency the home is located, cried shame on the callous bandits who chose to target the indefensible.

Reports are that around 8 pm on Monday, three bandits, one with a gun and the others with knives, stormed into the home at Calcutta #2 and announced a hold-up.

They tied up the caregivers, patients and the owner of the home. The men ransacked the home, taking several smart television sets, cash, jewellery and three cell phones.

Apart from the trauma, the elderly patients were not physically harmed.

Indarsingh said this was an indication that criminality was out of control and that Government, despite its many strategies, including the Caricom crime symposium, had lost the war on crime.

He said only this week in his constituency, a body was found near the police station, and another family in the district suffered a home invasion and had their vehicle stolen.

“It does not matter if you are in the police station, outside the police station, criminality continues apace, and there seems to be no tangible solution from the Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds or the Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher.

“No one is safe,” he said, pointing out that pensioners and geriatric homes had now become soft and easy targets for criminals.